The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published a 7 Year Lookback Report that summarizes employer-reported inpatient hospitalizations, amputations, and eye losses from 2015 to 2021.

Since 2015, employers have been required to submit a Severe Injury Report to OSHA within twenty-four hours if an employee is admitted to hospital, has a body part amputated, or loses an eye due to a workplace accident.

Since the reporting requirement began, federal OSHA has received 70,206 Severe Injury Reports. The agency has now compiled the reports into a 7 Year Lookback Report which analyzes the injuries by industry, geography, and injury type.

COVID-19 Impacts Data Analysis

Hospitalizations attributable to workplace-acquired COVID-19 are mostly excluded from the 7 Year Lookback Report because employers are only required to report hospitalizations that occur within twenty-four hours of the work-related incident responsible for the hospitalization, and the mean incubation period for COVID-19 is three to six days.

Nonetheless, the virus had an impact on the number of Severe Injury Reports received by OSHA in 2020 and 2021 due to lockdowns, work from home arrangements, and high sickness rates among employees. The industries most affected by the impact of COVID-19 include Mining and Quarrying, Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation, and Education.

Healthcare Among Most Dangerous Industries

Despite hospitalizations attributable to COVID-19 being mostly omitted from the report, the General Medical and Surgical Hospitals category appears fifth in an industry analysis of Severe Injury Reports (by number) behind three construction categories and a mining category. Other healthcare categories to appear high on the list include Nursing Care Facilities and Home Health Care Services.

While the high positions of these healthcare categories could be attributable to the high number of employees in the healthcare industry, the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Workplace Injuries and Illnesses Report (which includes respiratory illnesses) identifies Overexertion, Falls, Slips, and Trips, and Workplace Violence as particular workplace hazards in the healthcare industry.

Notable Increase in Respiratory Illnesses

One of the most concerning trends highlighted in the BLS Report is a 37.5% increase in reported respiratory illnesses in the private health care and social assistance sector from 2021 (145,300 cases) to 2022 (199,700 cases). The increase coincided with the relaxation of mask mandates in the Spring of 2022 – mask mandates that have been recently reintroduced in several Californian counties.

In this respect, healthcare organizations must be aware of their OSHA compliance obligations with respect to the provision of PPE, conduct risk assessments to assess the risk to employees from flu, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) infections, and COVID-19, and – where provided – train employees on the correct use, cleaning, and storage of respiratory protection equipment.

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